Kale Chips

I know, by this point in time, kale chips are no longer an innovation.  I remember reading about them a couple years ago, but for some reason I never got around to actually making them until last Thanksgiving.  I had various reasons to put it off — I couldn't justify turning on my oven just to dehydrate a leafy vegetable, I don't actually like kale that much, I thought the recipe was harder than it actually is — but now I am so glad I finally gave in to my curiosity.  This is one of the easiest and healthiest recipes ever.  Honestly, it's not even a recipe so much as a set of easy-to-follow instructions.  But please.  Learn from my mistake.  Make these.  Really.

All you do is get yourself several pounds of kale, wash it, dry it well (salad spinners are great for this), and cut out the hard fibrous ribs of the kale.  Gather up all the large leafy greens you have and toss them with a very minimal amount with olive oil (I'm talking about 1 teaspoon for a pile of greens the size of a newborn child) and a dash of salt.  You can even eliminate the salt and the oil if you're feeling really healthy.  Spread the leafy greens out in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for about 4-8 minutes (depending on the size of your pieces of kale).  It's so easy!

I check on the kale at about 4 minutes, rotate/flip any pieces that are bigger and start removing smaller pieces.  It's a very fast process.  If your oven has a convection setting, you can do 3 trays at a time.  I actually had two Cornish hens baking while I baked two cookie sheets of kale.

And the end result?  Tasty!  It's fun and easy to eat, and best of all, healthy.  The crispiness of the kale is fantastic.  My family scarfed down a huuuge bowl of this during Thanksgiving.  My mom even suggested that the next time we have a family movie night (which we always do around Christmas) that we make kale chips instead of popcorn.  Mmmm, a delicious way to get a good dose of beta-carotene, vitamin K, and vitamin C.